Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American neo-expressionist (and originally graffiti) artist of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent. After working as a graffiti artist with his friend Al Diaz under the name SAMO (from 'same old shit') in the late seventies, he made very 'explosive' works on canvas from the early eighties. Usually they are large formats in acrylic with line drawings and texts with oil paintstick on top. Basquiat was an African-American painter who gained world fame. His first solo exhibition was in 1982. For a number of years, Basquiat worked with Andy Warhol, whom he saw as a great example at the time. The collaboration was equal: Warhol was past his peak and Basquiat had already established his name. This equality allowed them to collaborate on some 140 works, some of which were exhibited in a duo exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi gallery in New York in 1985.